From Me To The Lahm-Universe

Doesn’t it seem odd that I still haven’t posted anything about Lahm’s retirement from the National Team? A bit. Well, alright. A lot. Hence, I am going to rectify the situation. I’ve taken my time…

When I heard about it, my first reaction was, “WHAT?! HUH?! WHYYY?!” No, I didn’t think winning the World Cup would be enough: I wanted him to have the European Championship trophy. Only then, I thought, I’d be ok with him not playing for the National Team (when he’s 50). Then someone I know said to me, “Hm… If they win the World Cup, I’ll even be alright without them winning the EC. Also, I’ll probably retire my Lahm-NT-2006 jersey. It’s time to get a new one.”

Germany won the WC 2014. That someone retired Lahm’s jersey. Lahm retired the next day. (There’s a pattern, I believe. Just kidding.)

In any case, at that very moment I had so many questions as to how it was even possible. Almost immediately I reminded myself that Lahm didn’t just wake up and quit the NT: he had obviously thought about it.Most of the time, he’s one step ahead.Some told me that it was a good thing, to go out on a high note. Yet, I was convinced he would’ve done it either way, with or without winning the WC 2014. Being afraid of failure, being afraid of people blaming you for that failure isn’t Lahm-like. It never was. Soon enough, there were his interviews, confirming my way of thinking. Well, I guess I can give myself a pat on the back for knowing him at least a tiiiiny bit.

By now, I’m sure everyone has read his letter to all the fans/colleagues, etc., which is also quite Lahm-like. It’s been amusing to see how interested people became in him all of a sudden. (I do mean the media.) I wanted to ask them, “Where have you been all these years?” One article after another… Nice but pathetic in a way.

All in all, I’m still bitter he won’t play at the EC 2016, but I’m hoping he will win that championship some time in the future as either a coach or an assistant coach. Lahm can do anything. He really can. Coaching, being a speaker, working for the government… Anything. That’s exciting for me as his fan.

And what can I say about a guy who has been the reason for creating a new term, i.e. “The Lahm Equation”? A guy who has done so much for the team without boasting, who has been amazing on the pitch and whose goals for the NT are gems, each and every one of them; who in 2010 became the youngest player ever to captain Germany and is a new kind of captain. A guy who has been a very important piece of the NT puzzle in its successes, as well as in their defeats. (Seriously though, just take a minute to think of it.) A guy who has done everything his way, as usual, and it was the right thing to do.

Too cool for words. I’m so proud of him and his achievement with the team and of the fact that I witnessed him lifting that trophy, the one he’d been dreaming of, although it was on my TV screen.

Finally, you all probably know that he wrote an article for Die Zeit and was also featured in that FIFA magazine (it’s available for download in English). I haven’t read any of it yet, thus I’ll try to get to it as soon as possible.

2 comments

There was once an article with the same title, I believe, and then the expression was used in another article, too. It describes the idea that Lahm was a crucial piece in the formation and was needed on both flanks, preferably at the same time. It talked about the fact that if, for instance, you were to move him from right-back to left-back, then the position of a right-back would become your problem area ’cause there’s no one who would have the same quality for RB as Lahm. Basically, it’s almost like solving an equation :)